KANSAS CITY — The throw came flying in from right field at 97 mph, and the runner missed the stop sign at third base, and an evening at Kauffman Stadium would be decided by a strange game of patty-cake at home plate on Monday night.

It was the top of the sixth at Kauffman Stadium. Tampa Bay’s Adeiny Hechavarria had dashed home, scooting around Royals catcher Salvador Pérez, who clutched the baseball in his glove. Both men would dive toward home plate. Hechavarria, a 6-foot, 185-pound shortstop, stretched his right arm outward before pulling it back and touching home plate with his left.

“Pure instinct,” Hechavarria would say.

“First time that’s happened to me,” Pérez would say.

Hechavarria’s split-second in the Matrix resulted in the decisive run in the sixth inning of the Royals’ 2-1 loss. The moment provided the latest way to lose in Kansas City. Sometimes the other team explodes for nine runs on a starting pitcher, as was...